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Anasazi
"Anasazi" is the twenty-fifth episode of the second season of The X-Files. Synopsis A computer hacker discovers evidence against the Syndicate that is so damning that its revelation to the public would be nothing short of catastrophic, leading Mulder into a race against sinister agents to learn the truth. Summary At a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, a teenage boy comes across a box car buried in the ground. He retrieves the corpse of an alien-like figure from within it and shows it to his father and grandfather. An older man, Albert Hosteen, has a prophetic moment in which he believes people will come in response to this discovery. In Dover, Delaware, Kenneth Soona, an associate of the Lone Gunmen, hacks into Department of Defense files and downloads government secrets about aliens onto a digital cassette. Immediately word of the breach echoes throughout the world, particularly amongst the members of the Syndicate. The Cigarette Smoking Man tells those concerned that he has already resolved the matter. The Lone Gunmen meet with Mulder and tell him that Soona, also known as the Thinker, requests to meet with him. Down the hall one of Mulder's neighbors shoots her husband, apparently for no reason. Mulder meets with Soona in the park, who gives him the digital cassette. An excited Mulder returns to FBI headquarters with it only to find that it is encrypted, which sends him into an irrational rage. Scully believes the encryption is based on the Navajo language and takes the tape in order to investigate. When Skinner calls Mulder to his office to question him on the tape, Mulder attacks him. Scully is later brought before Skinner and other senior FBI officials and is questioned about Mulder's actions. Scully is told that Mulder faces dismissal from the FBI, and she faces a similar sentence if she has lied to them. On Martha's Vineyard, the Cigarette Smoking Man comes to see Mulder's father and informs him of the theft of the tape, suspecting that Mulder is in possession of it. Scully meets with a Navajo translator, who can only understand some of the words on the tape; she refers Scully to a World War II-era code talker. Mulder is called away to see his father; when Scully arrives at his apartment she is nearly killed by a bullet fired through his window. Mulder meets with his father, who says he has something important to tell him, but is shot by Krycek when he goes to the bathroom. Mulder's father asks for forgiveness as he passes away in his arms. When Mulder calls Scully, she tells him to flee, and when he arrives at her apartment she takes his gun while he sleeps. Scully brings Mulder's gun to the FBI for comparison against the bullet that killed his father. When Mulder awakens he is upset and suspicious of Scully. That night, returning to his building, Scully finds that Mulder's water is being contaminated. When Mulder arrives home he finds Krycek there and is about to kill him when Scully shoots him to prevent him from doing so. Krycek escapes. Scully brings an unconscious Mulder to New Mexico and when he awakens she reveals to him that his behavior was caused by a drug placed into his water supply. She introduces him to Albert Hosteen, a Navajo code-talker who has been translating the files on the digital tape. Scully reveals that the tape refers to both her and Duane Barry, as well as some sort of test. Albert introduces Mulder to his grandson, who drives him to where he found the boxcar containing the alien-like corpse. Just before he heads in, he is called by the Cigarette Smoking Man, who is able to trace Mulder's location through the call. Mulder heads inside the box car, finding a pile of the dead creatures, each with small pox vaccination scars on their arms. The Cigarette Smoking Man arrives with armed soldiers and, not finding Mulder inside, orders the box car to be burned. To Be Continued... Background Information *Both Paul McLean (Agent Kautz) and Renae Morriseau (Josephine Doane) previously appeared in the Season 1 episode "Shapes", in which they played Dr. Josephs and Gwen Goodensnake, respectively. *This is the first episode in which recurring character Albert Hosteen appears. *Series creator Chris Carter said of the episode's creation, "This episode was the culmination of a lot of ideas. Generally, when we pitch stories to the staff, everyone comments on them and Darin Morgan called this 'the kitchen sink episode' because, it had so much in it, he didn't know how we would pull it off. But I'm very proud of the script. David Duchovny and I worked quite closely on the story and he had a lot of input, and then I sat down and wrote the script." *The episode's story was inspired by Carter's fascination with the Anasazi tribe of Native Americans and a vacation he took to Sedona, Arizona. Thus, the Anasazi are not only mentioned in the story but also provide this episode with its name. *According to Chris Carter, David Duchovny was instrumental in coming up with the idea of seemingly killing off one of the series' two lead characters at the end of this episode. Carter ultimately thought that the presentation of that idea at the end of this episode, the second season finale, brought a lot of interest to The X-Files and heightened the interest in the series. *Chris Carter makes a cameo appearance in this episode, as one of the senior FBI agents questioning Scully. *The production team were hard-pressed to find a desert locale in their Vancouver environs, since such a site was required for the New Mexico rock quarry in this episode. As a result, the crew instead painted an old abandoned quarry that was east of Vancouver with sixteen hundred gallons of red paint. The series' art department painted the scenery to match pictures of Sedona, with rocks of red and orange hues, and painted the entirety of a half-mile of cliff. *The fistfight between Mulder and Krycek in this episode was choreographed by David Duchovny and Nicholas Lea themselves, as the stunt coordinator had been stuck in traffic. Since Nicholas Lea was required to repeatedly snap his neck like he was taking a punch, director R.W. Goodwin ordered a message therapist to Lea's room the next morning. *Even years after this episode aired, David Duchovny routinely left phone messages for Nicholas Lea that jokingly accused Lea of having murdered Duchovny's father, due to the fact that Krycek seemingly kills Mulder's father in this episode. *The tagline for this episode is "Éí 'Aaníígóó 'Áhoot'é", which means "The Truth is Out There" in Navajo. Quotes *"Nothing vanishes without a trace! Burn it!" - Cigarette Smoking Man Cast Main Cast *David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder *Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully Guest Starring * Peter Donat as William Mulder * Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman as Albert Hosteen * Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek * William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man * Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Walter Skinner Co-Starring * Michael David Simms as Senior FBI Agent * Renae Morriseau as Josephine Doane * Ken Camroux as 2nd Senior Agent * Dakota House as Eric Hosteen * Bernie Coulson as Kenneth Soona Featuring * Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers * Dean Haglund as Richard Langly * Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike * Mitchell Davies as Stealth Man * Paul McLean as Agent Kautz Uncredited * Chris Carter as 3rd Senior Agent References SEMICOLON-SEPARATED LIST OF ITEMS/LOCATIONS REFERENCED IN EPISODE (BUT NOT LINKED TO IF ALREADY LINKED IN SUMMARY OR GUEST STARS SECTIONS) Category:X-Files episodes